Breakout
by nhairnuattoa7
Summary: During Ash, Misty, and Brock's stay in Celadon city, strange things start happening around town after the trio go see the movie "Dawn of the Dead"...
1. Chapter 1 (Edited: 1-26)

"_When there is no more room in hell... the dead will walk the Earth.._ Man, you think they would have run out of classic movie quotes by now, but they just keep adding even more!" Ash commented, as the group left the movie theater.

"I don't know, I think the whole "zombie apocalypse" is highly improbable," Brock replied, walking along side his life-long friend, still sipping on his drink from the theater, "I mean, think about it, what are the odds of some sort of disease reanimating the dead and allowing the dead to wreck through modern society?"

"Brock, it's not going to happen! It's just a science-fiction movie!" Misty commented from the other-side of Ash, holding onto a box of gummy candy.

"Yeah I know, but image if it actually did happen!"

"I don't want to imagine it.." Misty replied, drifting off towards the end. Ash glanced over at Misty, catching her reaction. Her face seemed to be wilted in expression, looking as if something was on her mind. Ash became worried, seeing his dearest friend like that. He placed his hand on her back, startling Misty at first.

"Hey, don't worry! It's not gonna happen any time soon!" Ash reassured Misty, stroking her back. She looked up at Ash and couldn't help but put on a bright smile. Ash looked towards the crowded streets to notice the bustling trainers and civilians, probably going out to dinner, coming back from work, or going out on the town. 6pm was always a busy time in the city.

Celadon City was always known as a fluorescing metropolis in the Pokemon universe, busy with incoming trainers looking to continue their journey by battling the local Gym leader, gamblers looking to make a profit from the rich casinos located down-town, and the tourists who are there to absorb the unique atmosphere of a moving city. In recent years, this city has been the center of musical and live entertainment, along with being host to various important scientific and technological conferences.

Ash, Misty, and Brock were staying in Celadon City for a few nights while their pokemon were staying at a local rehabilitation center. The recent battles had taken a toll on the Pokemon, so in their interests the gang decided to keep the pokemon at a local health and recovery center to restore and rest them back to fighting condition. Ash felt uncomfortable leaving pikachu by himself, but he knew that his companion would be in good company during their little vacation so Ash just let that worry slide by him. So, while the pokemon were resting, the gang thought it would be nice to spend some time in the city.

The three had decided to go to a movie in the entertainment district of town, deciding to go watch the classical hit "Dawn of the Dead", which was a movie focusing around a zombie outbreak that ravages across the whole world, and focuses on a group's story of their survival from the attack. Both Ash and Brock had been a fan of zombie films but Misty always hated them. When she was a little girl her sisters would force her to watch these scary movies, which gave her terrible nightmares. Even to this day, she still has trouble seeing zombie movies for the fact that they gave her these nightmares, but at least now she has Ash and Brock by her side to provide comfort.

It wasn't the zombies that didn't scare her (as much, anyway) but it was the psychological thought of going through that kind of scenario that made Misty cringe in her shoes. Growing up was hard as it is because her mother died when she was young and her father died in a car accident years later, so she never grew up with a regular mother or father. The only family she had was her three sisters and all they seemed to do was tease Misty all of the time... still, they were still family to her.. matter of fact the only closest she had had at the time.

But when she had met up with Ash and Brock and started to travel with them, she started to feel like she was part of a group of friends that were like her new family; like two brothers. No matter where their adventures had taken them, she had always had them by her side.. so then when she started having these zombie nightmares, these dreams were beginning to involve and target both of her "brothers", especially Ash.. and these nightmares started to torment Misty, tormenting about losing the closest family she had ever have... And she knew that these nightmares would flare up again after watching the movie..

"So, what do we want to do now?" Ash asked, looking at all of the restaurants and business flourishing with customers, "Wanna grab a bite to eat somewhere?"

"Sure! Sounds great!" Brock commented.

"Ech! How could you guys eat after a film like that?!" Misty replied, sticking her tongue out, still holding onto her box of gummy candies.

"What? Food is food!" Ash exclaimed, putting his hands on his stomach.

"You just had a big thing of popcorn! How could you still be hungry?"

"Because I'm growing man!" He replied, sticking his chest out and pointing to himself with his thumb, "I need the food to make me grow big and strong!"

A sweat drop ran down the back of Misty's head, "Ash, you're 17 years old, I think you're at the end of 'growing'.." Ash paused, letting the silence soak in.

"How embarrassing!" Brock commented, starting to laugh. Misty soon joined in with the laughter, while Ash was still stuck in his heroic position. He then let his arm fall down to his head, dropping his head.

"I hate you all.." he spoke, only making Brock and Misty laugh even more! Misty put her arm around Ash, still chuckling.

"Awwh come on Ash! You know that we love you! Isn't that right, Brock?" she commented, turning to face him.

"Of course we do! We're just teasing you around, Ash. It's nothing personal."

Ash continued looking at the ground, still blushing from embarrassment. Misty rubbed her hand on Ash's shoulder, "Come on, you, let's go get some Ice Cream!" she spoke, smiling sweetly at Ash, making him smile back and cheer up a bit.

"Okay! Ice Cream sounds good! Let's go!" Ash spoke, soon taking off, leaving Misty and Brock in the dust.

"Oy vay.. and he's off again.." Brock commented, taking a deep sigh.

Misty started giggling to herself. "Come on, Brock, let's go catch up with him." she replied, keeping her smile on her face. They both took off after the running teenager, whose appetite was getting to the best of him.

***1 hour later***

The trio were walking back to their hotels, each of them with an ice cream cone in their hand. Ash had chocolate, Misty had mint, and Brock had coffee; each one of these their personal favorite flavors. Ash and Misty were bickering over why their particular flavor is the better of the other flavor, while Brock was quietly listening to the chirping birds before him. Listening to Ash and Misty was beginning to become somewhat of a past time for him; he had grown so used to it through out these years.

As they continued to walk through the city, passing by the city's canal river, located just outside of their hotel, the group started to notice something strange about the people around them.. how they were starting to act as the sun started to set over Celadon City.

"Hey guys," Misty commented, finishing up her cone, "Has any one noticed that everyone seems to be moving around like at a quicker pace? Like something has them spooked?" Both Ash and Brock started to look around at the civilians: Misty was right. Everyone seemed to be moving abnormally quickly, like they were all late for something.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, it does look like something is up," Ash replied, feeling a little bit uneasy to what he is seeing, "I've got a bad feeling about this.."

"Come on, let's get back to the hotel and find out what's going on." Brock remarked.

"Right." both Ash and Misty agreed. They began to pick up their pace and started running to the hotel plaza.

A few minutes later they arrived on the hotel grounds, noticing a massive group of people standing outside of the hotel, yelling at the staff standing just outside. It wasn't clear exactly what they were yelling at or about but it looked quite serious. It looked like a scene of some street riot trying to get into a building, something you would see on television.

_"You can't do this to us!" "We demand a room!" "Give us sanctuary!" _The yells and screams buzzed commotion around the hotel campus grounds. The whole group looked on the scene, trying to find someway to get in the building. Misty was both shocked and confused as to what was going on in front of their hotel.

"Come on, Misty!" Ash spoke, running towards one of the side doors with Brock. Misty ran behind the two, soon catching up to them. Some of the rioters noticed the trio and started running after them, believing that they stayed at the hotel and that they could let them in. Ash, Misty, and Brock reached the side door to the hotel, quickly swiping their hotel key-cards in the slot and bolted inside before any of the rioting civilians could get in behind them. The three slipped in the door and closed it before the people arrived, who started banging on the glass, continuing to shout and curse at the group. The trio stopped to look back at the rioters outside, just as a guard was walking past them.

"Shouldn't we let them in?" Ash asked the guard, who seemed otherwise occupied with what was going on outside.

"No, they are creating a disturbance to the workers and are beginning to wreck hotel property. I'm not going to allow these thugs get into the hotel and continue to cause a rampage in here."

"But they are people just looking for someplace to stay!" Misty protested. The guard sternly looked over at Misty.

"Look, if you understood what our current situation is and what is headed this way, you wouldn't exactly want this many people in a small space, now would you!?" the guard shouted back, catching Misty off surprise, "Now if you excuse me I have to shoo these people off. I would suggest going to your rooms and staying there!" The guard walked away from the group and headed towards the side door they were coming from.

"How rude!" Misty commented, giving a huff at the guard.

"Come on Misty, let's just get back to our rooms," Ash spoke, not exactly feeling like he had wanted to stay at that spot with a grumpy guard around. Misty nodded and they ran down the hallway.

They made their way towards the grand staircase that lead up to their rooms. For some strange reason, the hotel only had staircases and they didn't contain any elevators. As they started to climb up the stairs, they were hearing the rioting citizens from the front door. All three stopped and turned around to look at the pandemonium developing outside. There were large glass doors and window panes that made for the entrance, making it visible to see everything that was going on. Outside of the glass doors, there was a line of guards linked in arms, pushing the civilians back from the door, but many of them though continued to bash their way towards the doors, only to forced back into the crowd. The shouts continued from outside, from both the guards and the civilians.

_"Let us in! We need protection!" _**_"Get away from the door! Get back!" _**_"Help us! Please help us!" _**_"Damn it all! Get away from the door! There is no more room for visitors to stay! GET BACK!" _**_"YOU CAN'T DO THIS! LET US IN!"_ Ash, Misty, and Brock were standing there, stunned by what they were hearing and seeing.

One of the hotel concierge scuttled down the staircase, passing by the group. Ash called him out. "Hey!" The man stopped suddenly and turned around. "What the heck is going on out there?" Ash asked the dressed up man.

He looked at him with a puzzling look. "You haven't heard what's been going on?" the man asked the three, to which they all shook their head. "Well, I... if I were you, I would head to your rooms and stay there for the night.." He continued to head down the stairs, but he suddenly stopped and turned around again. "And I would suggest staying there until it's safe..." The man continued scuttling down the stairs.

"What's that suppose to mean!?" Misty called out to him, but the man was already out of sight. They looked out towards the crowds, which seemed to have been escalating outside. Misty almost whimpered at the sight of the threatening crowds. She was spooked from what she was seeing outside, reminding her of the massive crowd scenes from the movie that they just saw that evening.

"Hey, Misty, I think it might be wise for you to stay with us for the night, since Brock and I have a suite room. We'll be able to stay together if something does happened outside, when we wake up tomorrow," Ash calmly spoke.

"It seems like a wise idea... I mean I'm not really afraid of what's going on!.. B-But it would be important to stay together," Misty replied, looking back outside.

"We better get going then, come on!" Brock noted, starting his way up the stairs. Ash and Misty followed up behind him.

As they ran by each door of the maroon colored hallway, the echoes of the riot outside were becoming more and more dim, almost becoming non-existent. But as the voices went away, another noise soon took place in the hallway: silence. All three had noticed that within each of the rooms they passed by, there were no televisions blaring or people talking in their rooms.. there was nothing.. just the sound of the air conditioning units wheezing through the grates, like a ghost of what had been there before... It was a silence that could drive any person towards insanity.. or more or less the feeling of discomfort of the lack of something there.. something that one couldn't easily put their finger on... Something was going on.

The three arrived at their doors. Misty headed into her room, which was next door to the boy's suite room, while Ash and Brock headed into their room. Misty quickly gathered her things together in her room, which was a suitcase and her backpack, along with a couple of the room's complementary items. She grabbed the main blanket off of her bed, and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Misty entered Ash's room, which was left ajar, to find him moving his things around the room, more or less cleaning them up a little bit. He turned around to face Misty. "Ah you've got your things. Do you have everything you need?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, I do," she spoke, a bit quieter than normal. The people outside still had her spooked. She continued to swivel her eyes around, from Ash to the window, to the suite door to her stuff, and his stuff as well. Misty didn't know how to control herself, as her emotions of fear and uncertainty were starting to rise up to the surface.

"Misty.." he softly spoke, stepping closer to Misty, making her focus her attention on his hazelnut eyes, which were looking into her cerulean blue eyes. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" he whispered. Misty continued to look at his eyes, trying to gain control over her thoughts and emotions.

"N-Nothing, what are you taking about?" she replied, quickly turning around to avoid his glance, slightly blushing. "I'm just f-fine!" Ash put his hand on her shoulder, making her jump slightly.

"Misty... don't lie to me.." Ash spoke. He could feel that something was going on.. but what exactly he couldn't tell. Misty's stubbornness was masking what she was truly hiding inside.. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to help direct her intuition, and turned around, opening her eyes. She hesitated for a second but then continued..

"Ash.. I'm s-scared.." she spoke with a slight quiver in her voice. "I don't know what's going on outside... and I just want to sleep without these.. illusionary images flashing through my mind of what might happen.. oh Ash please help me..." She started to cling to the sides of her light blue hoodie, holding back the scary images dancing around in her mind.. holding back her emotions and her fears from being exposed.. it was starting to make her shake.

"Misty, don't cry.." Ash spoke, pulling Misty in his arms, holding her in tightly. She wrapped her arms tightly around Ash's torso.

"Please, help me Ash.." she continued to whimper, nuzzling her head into his shoulder.

"Shh, Misty, you're okay.. you're okay." Ash cooed, moving his hand through her orange hair, stroking her head calmly. She continued to shiver in his arms, but she felt a comforting tingle go through her body with every stroke of his hand.. "I'm right here for you.." he continue to murmur softly. But as he was trying to calm down Misty, a storm of questions were beginning to buzz around in his head... normally she would never show this kind of emotion of fear so openly... normally Misty would keep these kind of emotions locked up in some unknown vault deep inside.. but this side of Misty was different..

"Ash.." she whispered to him, still holding him tightly, "C-Can you.."

"Yes, Misty?"

"Can you... sleep by my side? I-I mean, not for any funny business!" Misty blurted out, developing a blush on her face. "B-But for comfort.. I mean.. what's been going outside and seeing that movie has kicked in something in my mind that's making me feel uncomfortable... it reminds me about when my sisters would show me these gruesome films and I would always have terrible nightmares about it..." she replied, fading towards the end of the sentence. Ash's face lit up with a bright blush, from hearing such a request like this. He hesitated for a moment, but smiled with his conclusion.

"Of course I will, Misty. I'll sleep by you tonight" he spoke softly, continuing to move his hand through her hair. Ash knew that this.. request wasn't made out of some sort of passion that she had for him, but more or less she needed someone to comfort her and provide her with safety.. so that she may sleep peacefully. He was doing this request as Misty's dearest friend.

Misty looked up at Ash, beaming with a glowing smile. "Thank you so much, Ash," she paused, widening her eyes and looking over at the door, "B-But what about Brock? Won't he come back in here? I mean, if he saw us together in the same b-bed he would freak out!"

"Nah, I wouldn't worry about him. As soon as you went into your room Brock told me that he was just going to go to bed. I told him that I would stay up to make sure that you were okay." the black-haired teenager confessed, slightly scratching the back of his head. His one hand was still around Misty.

"Well, I'm glad you're here for me," she spoke, returning back into a tight hug. Misty felt that her worries and concerns were being lifted from her shoulders, making her feel so much more relaxed than earlier.. though she could still detect that something was there.. haunting her imagination and her mind..

"It's no trouble at all, Misty." Ash spoke, smiling and returning the hug. He stood there for about a minute, feeling the warmth of Misty and smelling the sweet fragrance of her hair, a scent that seemed so beautiful and attractive to him. Ash shook his head from this thought. "Well, we better get to bed, okay?" he spoke.

"Okay." she replied, pulling away from the hug. As soon as she left the hug, Ash felt a cold breeze into his arms, making him shiver. He wanted Misty to still be in his embrace.. her warmth with his... But he snapped out of his gaze, grabbing his pajamas and heading towards the bathroom, leaving Misty to change in the bedroom.

Ash was constructing his thoughts, as he was changing in the bathroom. _"This is so weird.."_ he thought to himself, _"Misty has never acted like this for as long as we have known each other... She might be right though.. maybe it's just a reaction to what has happened today.. kicking something up in her imagination, whatever that might be..."_ Ash continued thinking about what was going on, as he slipped into his blue and black checkered sweatpants, then pulling on his black shirt. Normally, he slept with his shirt off but he didn't want to spook Misty out even more.. Plus if Brock walked in to the room, and Ash didn't have his shirt on, and with Misty in the same bed as him, it would call for a lot of explaining!

He walked back into the room, noticing that Misty had finished changing into her pajamas. She was wearing blue and silver pajamas, both a long-sleeved top and bottom. Misty had her shoulder-length orange hair down from her usual ponytail and was combing it when Ash walked in the room. She continued to look out of the window as he walked into the room, trying to glance a view on the rioting civilians.

"I still want to know what is causing everyone to riot like this.. and at our hotel in particular.." she quietly spoke, still combing out the knots in her hair. Misty felt that her fear, from what she saw in the movie, was almost being portrayed as some sort of sick realistic fantasy... she hated the feeling of fear, entering and exiting through her mind, like it was flirting with her sanity.. Misty cringed, thinking about what was going on. Ash walked over to where Misty was standing and pulled her away from the window.

"Come on, Misty, it's time for you to go to bed." he spoke reassuringly, giving his usual grin. Misty smiled back at Ash, feeling the impression of comfort fighting back against the fear growing in her body. She walked away from the window and walked towards the bed. Surprisingly, it was big enough to fit two people in it, even if it was a tiny bit snug for the two of them. Misty climbed into the bed, pushing the sheets forward, and lied down on the right side of the bed.

"You do know that you snore when you sleep, right Ash?" Misty told him.

"I do not!" Ash retorted back, as he was climbing into the bed.

"You do too! You sound like a typhoon when you sleep!"

"Oh come off it! You snore too!"

"I do not, Ash Ketchum! How dare you accuse me of snoring while I sleep!" she retorted back.

"I'm not accusing you of snoring.. I'm just stating a fact.." Ash spoke, lying down and turning his body towards the window. Misty huffed at him and turned to face the other wall, lying down in the bed. They both slightly shifted around in the bed, trying to get comfortable, but it was still a bit difficult for the two of them to get cozy.

For Ash this was a weird experience from him, sharing a bed with one of his friends.. one of closest lady friends to that. He felt a little bit uncomfortable, as he laid with his hands facing outwards, but he didn't want to freak Misty out.

Misty felt very similar to Ash. Even though she had slept with people in the same bed before they had been boys at all.. just her sisters. It felt strange to be sleeping this close to her best guy friend but as she continued to lay in the bed his presence became more inviting to her. Misty felt sorry to yelling at him..

"Hey Ash?"

"Yeah, what's up Misty?" Ash responded, still sounding like he was wide awake.

"I'm sorry that I yelled at you.. and I'm sorry that you have to put up with me for the night. You'll just have to get used to my snoring," Misty joked, making Ash chuckle as well.

"Oh don't worry about it, I've grown used to the snoring," he replied back, making Misty laugh. "And Misty?"

"Yes?"

"You don't have to apologize about anything.. I understand how you feel.. fear of the unknown, of what is going on outside.. I've been there before, plenty of times in my life in fact. Heck, I had that same fear when I started my adventure.."

"But when I met you, you were just full of energy and passion! I never sensed any thing with fear inside of you.." Misty replied, thinking back on the day when they first met up.

"I guess I was just good at hiding my fears.." Ash confessed, gazing out the window. It was a wonderfully clear night out, a night without a single cloud in the sky.. Something remarkable to see all of their stars and their glory.. "Is that what you do too?" Ash asked Misty. She was startled hearing this question.. because she knew that it was true. She slightly shifted in the bed, moving herself a tad bit closer to Ash.

"I..I-I guess I do, from time to time.. I kinda do lock away my emotions from everyone... I guess I do that so that I don't show you guys my.. other side of emotions.." she confessed.

"What do you mean by your other side of emotions?"

"Well... I know that I'm confident and act a lot like a tomboy.. but there are times were I actually am quite scared.. even if I don't show it.."

"Really?"

"Yeah... though I've never wanted to tell anyone before because I thought that they would judge me for who I really was..."

"Misty, showing people who you really are doesn't make them judge you at all... not in the slightest.. you are truly be honest for who you are and not masking a false persona.."

"Do.. Do you think so?"

"I definitely think so.. I mean, that's how I feel sometimes.. that I make this big persona.. but inside I'm just another trainer from a small town.."

"No you're not.." Misty replied quickly, sounding like she had strong disagreed with him. "You are Ash Ketchum! There is no other trainer that I know of who is as good as you are! You're not just some normal trainer, Ash, you are someone special!" She blurted out. Misty covered her mouth, feeling a deep blush fall on her face. _"Did I just say that!?"_ she thought to herself. Ash was shocked by her words, feeling her heart slightly melt from her sweet words. He turned in the bed to face her.

"Do you.. do you think so?" Ash asked her. Misty thought through her feelings, taking a second to respond, also turning around to face Ash. She smiled at him.

"Yes, I know so, Ash" she responded, looking into his eyes. She moved her hand from her side and placed it on his check, making him blush. "You are the most noble and bravest trainer that I have ever know, Ash, and I want to let you know that where-ever you go on your journey... that you don't ever have to be alone. You'll always have me by your side."

"Misty.. I.." Ash stammered, almost lost for words. "Thank you.. you have no idea what that means to me." He smiled, feeling Misty's soft hand move across his face and seeing her just beaming back to him. Misty moved her hand back to her side.

"You're welcome, Ash" she replied. "We should probably get to sleep. Don't want to have the night slip away on us!"

"Y-Yeah, you're probably right" Ash replied, turning to face the window. As he lay there, looking at the stars in the dark night sky, Ash was thinking about Misty's words.. how personal they were for him and... how mean those words were for him. He.. had been waiting a long time for Misty to say those words to him.. Suddenly, he felt a nudge at his back.

"You know Ash," Misty spoke with a slight giggle, "we are both close friends anyway, so there's.." Misty drifted off for a second, making Ash turn to face Misty. Even though it was dark in the room he could tell that she was blushing at her words. "..there's no reason why we can't c-cuddle together.." she spoke, slipping on the last of her words. Ash felt a mad blush fall upon his face and he could also tell that Misty was blushing even more than he was.

"Well, I g-guess we could cuddle together.. only if you wanted to.." Ash replied, feeling a bit confident in his decision. Misty smiled at his answer and shifted closer to Ash. A bit slow at first but gaining more confidence, Misty rolled her body over, placing her left arm underneath his pillow and her right arm around his neck, and her body was laying on the right side of Ash body. He was laying down with his back to the bed. Ash placed his right arm around her neck and shoulders, placing his hand near her right forearm. It took a little bit of adjusting but they were finally able to get comfortable.

Misty nuzzled her head into Ash's chest, feeling the warmth of his body take over. He was like a guardian, watching and protecting Misty from any danger. She smiled before letting out a sigh. "This is actually quite comfortable.." she quietly laughed, feeling her usual blush arise over her face again.

"It actually is really delightful." Ash sighed, smiling and looking at Misty's orange hair. He couldn't help but smelling the sweet aroma that seemed that to be emitting, like a Pokemon drawn in to Sweet Scent. Ash tingled at smelling the pure and ambrosial incense from her hair.

"M-Maybe, we should do this more often." Misty whispered, slightly giggling, which made Ash fall into a deep crimson across his face. Ash smiled, looking over at Misty, into her blue eyes.

"That could easily be arranged." Ash replied, chuckling out-loud, to which Misty fell into a similar shade of crimson. Ash pulled Misty closer in, feeling her heart beating against his chest, and leaned in to Misty's ear. "Goodnight, Misty. Sweet dreams." he whispered. Misty felt a wave of happiness flowing through her body: she had waited a long time to hear him say this.

"Goodnight, Ash. Sweet dreams to you too." Misty whispered back, placing her head back down on Ash's chest and taking in the warmth of the teenager. Ash simply smiled, moving his head closer to Misty's head. Soon, the warm blanket of slumber took over both Ash and Misty, and they fell fast asleep on that warm, October night.


	2. Chapter 2 (Edited: 1-31)

Ash and Misty were still entranced in their slumber, embraced within each other's comfort and sharing the warmth of each other's bodies, as the sunlight slightly broke through the curtains. During the night, they wound up shifting around and ended up in a spooning position, with Ash facing the outside of his bed towards the window and with Misty wrapped around his back, her head nuzzled into his shoulder. It seemed to be the position that was most comfortable for both parties.

Misty had slept almost perfectly, regardless of the various shifting. For some interesting reason, her fears had been dulled from the protection of Ash by her side. Her plan of having Ash there for comfort worked perfectly, as she didn't have any sort of nightmares nor any sort of terror-based auras through her mind. Nothing could ruin her sort of mind state.

Suddenly a sharp rapping at the suite door woke Ash and Misty up from their deep slumber. "Ash! Misty! Can I come in!?" Brock shouted through the other side of the door, sounding a bit anxious. They both took a second to realize that they were spooning together. Quickly separating, they almost jumped out of the bed, wearing upon their faces a big red mark of embarrassment for almost being exposed by Brock. Ash looked over at Misty, straightening out his shirt, and she gave him a 'don't-tell-him' look of embarrassment, to which Ash agreed, nodding.

"You can come in, Brock!" Ash yelled back, combing through his hair, "The door is unlocked!" The door quickly opened up, revealing a panicking Brock, as he darted into the room, still in his red and black pajamas.

"Brock, what the heck is the matter?" Misty commented, noticing his panic-ness, as he started to block their door and pulling a chair up underneath the doorknob. "What's going on?"

"Haven't you guys heard the news?" he replied, looking at both of them with a confused glance.

"No, we've been asleep this whole time." Ash replied, scratching the back of his head, "Why? What's going on?"

"Oh you are not going to believe it when you see it.." Brock stated, walking over to turn on the television. Misty sat down in a chair that was in front of the television and Ash stood next to her. The television flickered slightly, displaying it's logo, and then snapping onto a local news station. It was just coming off from break when it started displaying red letters across the screen that said **BREAKING NEWS**. Ash and Misty watched in horror what they were being shown on the television.

On the screen, the helicopter camera was panning over a large section of a nearby highway, commonly traveled from Cerulean City, and on that highway section was a scattered group of people walking towards Celadon City... For some strange reason, all of the individuals seemed to have a limp in each of their step, as if they had all been attacked by someone... or rather something.. There were no cars on the road at all and there seemed to be this long trail of some sort of red substance following behind each person... Suddenly, Ash and Misty truly saw what these people were, as the camera zoomed into one of the person's faces...

It was an infected, it's face showing the signs of decaying and torn-off flesh, as it literally presented itself as if someone ripped its face apart. Blood was spilling from each of these flesh marks, oozing downwards towards the ground and occupying the crimson path that followed the infected. As it noticed the camera looking towards it, its eyes brightened up, it's blood-red pupils becoming dilated, and the veins of it's eyes popping out. The infected yelled at the camera and was about to start chasing it, but the camera soon back away from it's fascinated viewer and returned to a generic pan of the area.

Misty started to whimper at the images on the screen, "No no no, this can't be happening!" she cried softly, clasping her hands over his mouth, "Brock, how long have they been covering this on the news?"

"Since early this morning," Brock spoke, biting his lips in worry, "Some of the staff came by the rooms at like 4 in the morning, alerting us of what was going on.. I didn't believe it at first but as soon as I turned on the news..." he continued, fading towards the end. Ash stood there, next to Misty, still trying to take in what was going on.

"What did they tell us to do?" Ash asked Brock, placing his hands on Misty's chair.

"The hotel staff advised us to just stay in our rooms until they can move us to safety.. but in all honestly I think the rooms are the safest place to stay.." he replied, moving towards the door and taking a look through the peep-hole. "And from the look of it, I don't think anyone else is going to leave their rooms anytime soon."

"Have any infected come into the city yet?" Ash asked, looking out the window to the streets below. From the look of it, the streets were completely empty.. not a single individual occupied the sidewalks. Even the people that were protesting in front of the hotel were no longer in sight... such a ghastly sight to be seen of the once fruitful city.

"Not yet, that's what the news station was showing. They are going to be here soon, though, from the rate that they are going." Brock replied, looking at the television set. The station was continuing to show the infected crawling all over the highway. The camera zoomed out and started to show the local area surrounding Celadon City. Off in the distance of the shot, it became noticeable that there were houses and local forest areas emitting a dark, threatening cloud of smoke. Ash and Misty continued watching the screen. Misty noticed that there was a region of the screen that seemed to be smoke-free.

"Hey look at the route heading east!" Misty spoke out, pointing at the screen, "It looks like there isn't any smoke coming from there at all, which might indicate that it hasn't been infected yet." she continued, sounding hopeful.

"Say, I think that route leads towards Saffron City! If we head eastward, there might be a chance that we could be able to avoid the infected." Ash spoke, crossing his hands and looking towards the television.

"It could be our only chance." Misty replied, looking up at Ash.

Ash looked down at Misty, her piercing light-blue eyes looking in his hazelnut eyes. He thought for a moment, taking a deep breath, and looked over at Brock. "Well, I guess we have two choices," he spoke, "Option A, we stay here at the hotel and barricade ourselves in and just hold out. Perhaps getting weapons to defend ourselves with... Option B is that we could try to leave the city, head east towards Saffron City, trying to beat any of these infected back, and run towards safety.."

"Hold on," Brock spoke, "Just because Saffron City hasn't been infected yet, doesn't mean that its safe to be there." Ash and Misty looked at each other, feeling quite stupid; they didn't even known if that town was safe yet. "We would have to see if the city has any plans for evacuating civilians, before we start making any plans for leaving... I think the safest thing for us to do right now is just to stay here and wait for-" A knock at the door interrupted what Brock was saying. They looked at the door, fearing what was on the other side. Brock slowly walked over to the door, looking through the peep-hole. He sighed. "It's just one of the staff members outside." he whispered. Both Ash and Misty sighed, relieved that it wasn't one of the infected.

Brock moved the chair from underneath the doorknob and opened it, to revel a half-smiling-half-panicking hotel worker at the door. "Hello everyone," he spoke, a bit jittery in his voice, "I'm hoping that you've had a pleasant night sleep."

Ash and Misty looked at each other, awkwardly, and then back to the worker. "Eh yeah we slept well."

"Good. Now I want to keep you up to date with what the current situation is, with regards to your safety and well being." he spoke, sounding almost like someone on a public service announcement. Brock stepped back allowing the man to walk in the room. He closed the door behind him. "As of right now, a local police force has been assigned to protect this hotel at all costs, when the infected persons reach the city. Until that point in time, you may continue to proceed with your daily routine."

"Are we allowed to go out in the streets?" Ash questioned the worker, "When I looked outside earlier it looked like we weren't allowed to go out in the streets."

"Panic. A lot of the civilians are probably in hiding because of what is happening," the worker replied, "I assure you, though, you are allowed to be in the streets. However I strongly advice that whatever you choose to do, you come back to the hotel by 5 o' clock tonight. It is then that the infected will have probably arrived into the city." The worker finished his speech and headed towards the door.

"Hey," Ash called out. The worker turned around to face Ash. "Do you know..." Ash hesitated to ask for a second.. he continued, "Do you know.. how... did this..."

"Happen?" The worker finished off Ash's sentence. He nodded. The worker clasped his hands together, putting them up to his mouth, and then spoke. "Well.. in all honesty, sir, it all seems to be a haze to me.." he spoke. Misty could tell that he was trying to think through his responses. "I've been up since about 3 o' clock this morning with what... with what has been going on... everything that I've heard has just been a lot of jumble.. But from what I've been commonly hearing, this... infection was developed from some sort of strange mutation.. apparently it had developed from a simple flu virus.. into something more horrific and terrifying.. from what I hear the individual who is infected with this strange mutated disease basically is filled with massive rage and attempts to destroy anything it sees in it's path...

"Are you sure about his?" Brock asked, giving the worker a serious look on his face.

"From what I have heard.. yes, this is how the infection has been spreading... if you may or may not have heard the mad disease has been in the near existence for about five days now.." He replied.

"Five days!?" Ash retorted back.

"Yes, five days as of today. It was rumored that it initially broke out near Mount Moon. They believe that the disease wasn't actually deadly at first and that some people actually had the disease for weeks before hand without any major differences.. but suddenly it took a sharp turn, as the disease mutated into these... things. Suddenly an outbreak is sighted in one city, filled with chaos, and everyone becomes infected from the lack of protocol... then the disease moves on to a new source of living flesh..

"How did we not hear about it until just now?"

"Celadon City has been trying to keep this piece of information out of the news in the last few days, in fearing that announcing the infection spread would spook everyone away... They thought it would be better to hold back this piece of news to not cause chaos in the city, hopping that the infection would just.. die off after a few days. But when the people started hearing about the infection spreading to Cerulean city, panic continued from there. Surprisingly, the infected seemed to have avoided Saffron City, and have headed straight towards Celadon City instead... no one seems to know why as of yet.. They'll come in here and ravage anything in their path.. It would be wise to invest in some sort of protection.."

"What would be the best method to kill them?"

"Just like any other thing. A simple headshot will take care of anything in your way but for the infected, who's bodies act similar to the regular human body, just a few blasts to the torso and the upper shoulders should do the trick. Guns are always the recommended way of taking care of them. If not, then either a blunt or sharp weapon will do the trick." Ash, Misty, and Brock nodded, hearing his wise words of advice. The man started walking towards the door. "I'm sorry to leave, but I must inform the other people staying at the hotel about the current situation... if you need anything, feel free to call the main desk... take care." the worker spoke, tipping his hat to the trio, and then walking out the door.

Brock turned towards Ash and Misty, to which Misty had moved from the chair towards the edge of the bed. Ash walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders, making her slightly jump but smile to see it was Ash.. a smile that faded oh so quickly. The anxiety of the situation was starting to get to her mentality and spirituality.. To a degree that nothing around her could cheer her up.. no matter how hard they tried... nothing could exterminate this fearful aura..

"So what do we do now?" Brock commented, almost sounding like he was talking to himself.

"Well I suppose the only logical thing we could do now is go out and get the supplies that we need to stick it out," Ash spoke, rubbing Misty's shoulders to provide some sort of comfort any way he could. "I mean trying to run for Saffron and not knowing if it is safe yet or not would just be suicide... I think it would just be best for us to stay here.."

"I agree with Ash, that would be the best thing to do right now.." Brock agreed, "What do you think, Misty?" he asked, being cautious not to spook her any more..

She continued looking straight-wards, thinking in her mind and trying to enjoy Ash's comfort. Misty closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in, and opening her eyes. "It would wise for us to stay here for now.. I-I mean I don't know how this will be through-out the event, but for now we should stay put... Oh God, I can't believe that Cerulean City has been infected.. my sisters.. what if they've..." she exclaimed, fading towards the later part of the sentence, closing her eyes and putting her head in her arms.

"I'm sure that they are going to be okay, Misty. You're sisters would definitely be strong enough or at least smart enough to get out of that area.. or lock up and stay inside the gym" Ash replied.

"Oh God.. are we going to be okay? If that infection can wipe through an entire town like that... We're not going to last long.." Misty shuttered at such a horrid thought occurring to them.. to Brock.. to Ash...

Ash put his arms around Misty "Hey, don't worry, Misty! We're here to protect each other.. we'll be here for you! We'll protect you from any harm!"

"Promise?" she whispered quietly in her arms.

Ash pulled her in closer, putting his head on her right shoulder. "I promise. Both Brock and I will protect you from any harm.. isn't that right, Brock?" he questioned his older companion.

Brock walked up to Misty and placed a hand on Misty's shoulder, looking her in the eyes "I promise that you'll be safe, Misty." he spoke, trying to sound calm, even though underneath he felt panic growing. He knew that there wasn't much time to prepare and that they had to move. Misty felt some comfort in these words, but again the comfort did not last, making Misty become more unstable.. Brock stood up, looking at Ash. "Ash, we need to head out to and start gathering supplies, and quickly too, the day is going to fly by."

"Right." he replied, "Misty, do you want to come along with us or do you want to stay in the room?" Ash asked her, moving in front of the bed to face her. Misty looked up at him.

"I should probably stay here.. to make sure that everything is ready for your return.. and I might want to get some sleep, heh, before we get busy" she replied, slightly shaking in her voice.

"Alright, sounds like a good idea. We'll have our phones on our person so we'll be in contact throughout the afternoon." Ash spoke.

"Is there anything that you want for us to bring to you?" Brock asked, as he was jotting down some notes of what they needed to obtain. Misty thought for a moment, trying to keep her thoughts focused on what was at hand.. Nothing in particular could stand out in her mind.. just.. _"Keep me safe.."_ she thought to herself.

"Just something to drink.. cause when the power goes out later, we'll need to have some sort of water supply to keep us hydrated... and some sort of weapon, it doesn't matter what it is" Misty stammered, keeping her eyes glued on the floor, still stuck in the state of shock that seemed so dominant.

"Okay. We'll make sure that we get you something" Brock replied, continuing to write down notes on his notepad. Misty started to daze off again, continuing her stare at the carpeted floor.. her thoughts were drifting into the realm of worry, thinking about her sisters.. if they were safe.. or they had been infected.. and on top of that, she began worrying about Ash and Brock.. if what they planned to do was safe or not.. Ash noticed her gazing off and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You don't need to worry, Misty, we're going to be just fine." Ash squatted down to her eye level. "Why don't you try to get some sleep, and Brock and I will be right back with the supplies needed, okay?" he assured Misty, to which she slightly nodded.

"Ash we need to get going, it's already noon.." Brock chimed in, looking at his watch. Ash continued looking at Misty, watching as her eyes were flickering from one direction to another, almost as if they were trying to find something.. Then her eyes locked onto his eyes, staring at his hazelnut coloured eyes. Ash stood up, to which Misty strangely got up with him as well, continuing to look in his eyes. He pulled Misty in for a tight hug, trying to give any last comfort before he departed. She swung her arms around him, tightly holding onto him.. almost like a lost child holding onto their parent before they went away.. Ash gave Misty one last little squeeze before he uncoiled his arms, noticing how Misty didn't want him to go.

"Don't worry, Misty, we'll be back before you know it!" Ash spoke to her, giving his usual smile-of-approval. Misty smiled, feeling comfort from his grin. Ash grabbed his jacket and headed towards the door, with Brock behind him. "Call us if you need anything, Mist!" Ash called from over his shoulder. They walked out of the room, and as Ash was closing the door he looked back at Misty, smiling, and closed the door behind him. Misty stood there looking at the closed door, seeing her closest friends leaving her in the room by herself.. stuck in a facial expression that was lost...

**Author's note: Sorry for the long delay of the third chapter, i've been going back through the first chapters and making some revisions to the story, fixing personas and plot holes. Hopefully you guys will like the story! Chapter 3 should be up soon! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

With everything that has been going on, Misty had been stunned by not only her reaction to the outbreak but along with the exposure of Ash's emotions that have risen up in the last few hours.. It was something that she would have never expected from him. On the one hand it could be some way of showing any possible feelings towards her, in the method of providing comfort in a time where she has felt so drowned in darkened pessimism. But on the other hand, these emotions might just be a assorted signal of Ash's affectionate actions, as a mix of her own personal feelings towards him and the drama being mixed in from the outside world into her own world of what was once filled with serenity and happiness... The whole scenario seemed to be unreal, so confusing and so disorienting for her.. She didn't know what to think or feel.. nothing was making any sense at all..

Misty decided that it was wise to actually take a nap, but before she laid down she headed towards the bathroom, feeling that a quick shower could help calm her down a bit. Slipping out of her pajamas, and leaving them on the counter, she turned on the hot water and jumped into the shower. The stingy hot water made her jump at first but as she continued to be exposed to the water it became more calming and started to relax her nerves ever slightly.

As she let the hot water run through her orange hair and around her body, she continued to think about Ash and his most recent actions. Even though his sweet and courteous exploits with her were something that she could have only imagined in her deep fantasies, Ash's actions seemed to be almost out of character. Normally this teenage boy was always a man of action and really though nothing of soft and fuzzy things but now he was using more actions of the thoughtful and the caring nature.. It just didn't seem to connect in her mind..

Misty finished up her shower and grabbed one of the nearby towels, drying herself. She wrapped herself in a dry towel and walked back out into the bedroom, taking her clothes with her. Placing her clothes on the nearby chair, she crawled into the bed and tried to get comfortable but no avail... Misty grabbed one of the nearby pillows and hugged it closely, pretending like it was Ash who was with her in the bed. Not for the funny business but like that previous evening in which they shared each other's warmth and comfort.. To Misty that moment she had shared with Ash was one of the most delightful moments that she could have ever shared with anyone. It provided her with so much comfort and warmth, and she felt that nothing could have ever harmed her. Misty felt safe in his arms.

Slowly, but surely, Misty was able to fall into a deep slumber, feeling the warmth of the blankets create a humble barrier of protection. As she slept, Misty felt her subconscious continue to flirt with her sanity, feeling the strings of reality and hope being pulled into various directions. Her comfort that was intertwined with the blankets was now being torn away like tissues being pulled apart in water. Misty started to turn in the bed, feeling the discomfort of the inner mechanisms of her mind being torn apart.

"No.. stop.. stop it.." she moaned in her slumber. Misty continued to toss and turn in the bed, her imagination now starting to take a toll on her judgement of what was reality and what was fictitious. Suddenly a voice appeared in front of her..

"Misty...Misty..." the voice whispered, ghastly and unreal. Misty slightly opened her eyes from hearing this strange whisper in the room. She still laid in the bed but tried to scan the room for any signs of life..

"Nothing.." she mumbled to herself, closing her eyes and holding onto the pillow ever so tightly. She tried to fall back asleep, but then it happened again.. but only louder..

"Misty.. Misty.. wake up.." the voice continued to echo. Misty opened both of her eyes, not wanting to move from her spot but wanting to know the source of the voice.

"Who is that?" she replied, still looking over at the wall. Her heart beat started to increase, becoming scared at what was in the room.

"Do not worry.." the voice spoke, "I am here.. with a message.. to you." The voice was haunting in tone, but it sounded so familiar to Misty. It had sounded like one of her closest friends.. maybe..

_"Could it be?.."_ Misty thought to herself, starting to think of who it might be. "A-Ash, is that you?" she called out, slightly trembling.

"Noo.." the voice replied. Misty's heart dropped from hearing this, "I am not a mortal that you may know of... I am merely a messenger.." the voice continued, "I am here to deliver a message.. to you.." Misty was confused by what the visitor was.. and what did it mean by 'a message'? She had to find out who it was. Taking her pillow, still wrapped in her arms, Misty sat up in the bed and looked towards the direction of the ominous voice. She gasped when she saw the strange being standing near the suite door, almost dropping her pillow.

In front of her was a cloaked man, whose age was unknown. He had long white hair exposed from his raised hood, though his face was hidden in the black. It's cloak was long and was coloured black, displaying various dark red symbols on its front. On the side of the robe he was displaying a scabbard with a long blade inside, carved with strange silver symbols on its black handle. He held a tall black staff, to his right side, that had pieces of green emerald clearly exposed from the core of the staff. What seemed the most ominous part.. was that he didn't have any feet at all.. he seemed to be levitating in his spot.

"What do you want?!" Misty spoke out, freaked out of what she was seeing in her room.

"I told you.." the figure replied, "I am here to deliver a message to you..."

"Well.. s-say it then! I-I mean I don't want to be rude.." Misty stated, continuing to hug her pillow tightly. _"I want Ash to be here! I'm scared of this thing!"_ she thought to herself.

"I do apologize for my... ghastly appearance.." the figure continued, "But this is simply who I am.."

"A-And who are you ex-exactly?" Misty asked, slightly trembling.

"I am the over-watcher.. the over-watcher of what is to come.." the figure replied, "I am selected to follow a specific group of individuals... individuals who have proven that they are worth living.. and I am here with a message of protection..."

"Pro-Protection?" Misty stammered back, slightly lost in what this thing was saying to her.

"Yes," the figure replied, "Of protection... I have come here with a warning, with regards of your future actions and endeavors..."

Misty's heart froze, hearing these news. "What do you m-mean by that?" she replied.

"With what has happened to your current world, in terms of the infected attacking those who remain alive and healthy, there is something that you must be able to know in order to survive this nightmare."

"A-And what do we have to do?" Misty asked, feeling obligated to say so. The figure moved forwards towards the foot of the bed, making Misty jump and tucking her legs in, whimpering slightly. _"No no! Don't come closer! Please no!" _she pleaded to herself. The figure stopped about a foot away from the bed, its presence still more looming than ever.

"Listen to my words closely.." the figure continued to speak, "It is not safe to stay here past two days in this city.. The city will eventually become overrun by the infected.. you and your friends should leave the city by midmorning two days from now.. for then it will have seem the infected have died off... but in truth it is only the end of the first major group, now gone.. people will think that it is all over, but it is only just the beginning... This will be very noticeable, and when you see this, you must leave the city.."

Misty listened and took in every word that he said. Even though she couldn't believe that this would be happening, it was still important to listen and make sure she understood his message. "But where will we flee to? The north is engulfed in flames and smoke, and we don't know if the east is safe.."

"You must head to the east.. towards Saffron City.. it will safe to stay here, for the telekinetic abilities of their people will cause the infected to stay away from the city.. but this will only be in effect after mid-morning of the second day, for this telekinetic barrier will be formed by then, allowing for citizens to go there... and stay there safely..."

Misty felt a sigh of relief go through her body. _"Finally, a sign of hope!"_ she thought to herself.

"But, I must warn you.. do not share this piece of information with everyone.. only those you can thrust to keep this information to themselves.. for if this information is spread to everyone, there will become a mad panic and rush to get to Saffron City.. in which the city will merely close it's gates and prevent anyone from getting into the city... sanctuary will be cut off... Take head of my warning, child, for it'll be the thing that'll save you and your friends..." The figure started to turn towards the door.

"Wait!" Misty called out, making the figure turn back around.

"Yes?.."

"How.. how I can know I can trust you?" Misty asked, being cautious not to upset this figure.. The figure feel silent for a short moment, keeping its gaze on Misty.

"My true self cannot be identified," the figure spoke out, "But if I had been lying to you, would you believe in this?" Before Misty could respond, the figure tapped his staff on the floor and a window appeared out of thin air, startling Misty. In the mirror a slight static covered the screen but soon cleared a vision in the mirror that disturbed Misty more than ever.

It was her.. standing in the same room that they were residing in. She had been holding what looked to be a pistol in her right hand and a sword in her left, weapons covered in a red sticky substance. Misty's expression in the mirror looked lifeless.. hopeless.. almost as if her spirituality was no were in sight.. she looked pale. _"Why am I so pale? I-I don't get pale that easily... do I?" _Misty thought to herself. The image then slowly rotated in the mirror, showing what Misty was looking at in the image. Misty watched in anticipation, as it slowly began to show the doorway to the suite room, right where the figure was standing. Then suddenly, Misty let out a terrible scream, jumping towards the back of the bed and putting her hands to her mouth, seeing what she could now see in the mirror...

The mirror now showed that in the doorway were two corpses lying down on the carpet, covered in blood, looking as if they were trying to advance on Misty's position before being shot. But these two corpses were all too familiar to Misty.. one with dark brown hair, wearing a similar brown jacket... and the other one with jet black hair, wearing his blue jacket and his red and white hat, to which it was crumpled to the side... Misty started developing tears in her eyes, overwhelmed with what she was seeing before her... it was Ash and Brock...

"These two became infected later in the second day's evening... they were no longer human.. but a thing... a heartless infected beast... and you.. had shot both of them to protect yourself from becoming infected..." the figure explained.

"No.. NO! I couldn't have done that! No!" Misty yelled out-loud, covering her ears and shaking her head. Misty's tears fell from her face and landed on the sheets. She put her face in her hands, weeping loudly, feeling the building sorrow finally explode in that single moment... "N-No... No!.." she continued to weep, falling back into the covers. "N-No! It-It couldn't have been me! No!... No.."

"Misty.. Misty!" a voice called out. Misty felt a hand on her shoulder. She woke up, quickly sitting up in the bed seeing who it was, still gripping the pillow in her arms. Misty's heart was soon relieved with a smoothing calm wave.. to see Ash sitting on the bedside next to her. She beamed at seeing him again, after what had happened... it was all just a dream... or was it?

"Are you okay, Misty?" Ash asked calmly, "You were calling out, saying 'no' over and over again.. and you were crying..." As he said this, he reached out and wiped away one of her tears. Her smile soon faded, remembering the strange encounter with the figure. Misty started to tear up again, thinking about what she had seen in the mirror...

"Oh, Ash!" she exclaimed out, leaping towards him, throwing her arms around him. Ash became startled and confused as to what just happened, but soon though he understood why she was holding onto him tightly, like a lost child finding its parent... Misty soon started crying into his shoulder.

"M-Misty? What's wrong?" Ash whispered, returning her tight embrace by wrapping his arms around her shoulder-blades. He felt her teardrops fall on his shoulder and continued to hear her sobbing.

"Ohh A-Ash," she sobbed, "I had the m-most horrible dream in a lo-long time!.. I w-was s-so scared!"

"What happened in the dream?" Ash replied, trying to help. There was a short silence, only occupied by short bursts of sniffling and sobs.

"I w-would rather talk a-about it later.." she spoke, "I just.. I j-just want to hold you..." Misty continued crying into his shoulder, trying to weep away the images that she had been exposed to by the figure.. whatever his message was, it was loud and clear.. if they didn't leave the city by the second day's night, Ash and Brock would become infected, leaving Misty with the decision to kill them... and that was something that she could not wrap her mind around at all...


	4. Chapter 4

***Sorry for the long delay! I have been occupied with college exams while working on the story. Hope everyone enjoys the newest chapter!***

By the time Ash and Brock came back from retrieving their needed supplies, it was already 3 o' clock in the afternoon. Brock was busy setting up barriers inside the two rooms, while Ash was going through and checking the supplies, making sure that they had everything that they needed. Misty was sitting on the bed, now dressed in her clothes, watching Ash place each of the items on the bed. She didn't say much at all, just watching as Ash would take an item out of the bag and place it on the bed, like a cat watching the little red light move around from one spot to another. Ash had unloaded boxes of crackers, canned fruits, sodas, beef jerky, a couple of water jugs, bandages, peroxide, and some medicinal wraps. He had organized each of these items on the bed and continued to unload the duffle bag.

"Now I didn't know what you might be experienced with," Ash spoke to Misty, pulling her attention away from the bed-side items, "But I think that this might do you quite some good." Ash pulled a silver pistol out of the duffle bag and placed it on the bed. Misty slightly panicked seeing the pistol on the bed, as her mind quickly flashed back to the scene.. the scene in which she had been holding the same pistol after shooting the infected Ash and Brock.. the blood had returned fresh in her mind.. she snapped back into reality and picked up the pistol, analyzing it. "That is a Mark XIX .50 Desert Eagle," Ash commented, "A quite upgraded version of the original pistol.. It holds 8 rounds per magazine and about 80 rounds total, so you should be able to hold 10 boxes of ammo. I think this pistol will be able to provide you with a lot of protection against whatever stands in front of you." Misty looked over at Ash, still defined with a look of confusion and hesitation.

"Um.. Ash?" she started off, slightly delayed. Ash placed the duffle bag down to his side and moved his chair closer to Misty.

"Yes Misty? Is there something wrong?" Ash asked, giving his similar look of concern planted on his face. Misty was hesitating.. she wanted to tell Ash about the messenger and what she had seen in the mirror... but she wasn't able to pluck up the courage to say it..

"Umm, I actually don't know how to fire one of these things!" Misty replied, rubbing the back of her head embarrassed. _"Stupid Misty!" _she cursed to herself, _"You've gotta tell him what you saw.. before it's too late..."_

Ash got out of his chair, smiling. "Well why didn't you say so!?" he commented back, "I can help you with that!"

"You.. You can?"

"Sure! It's quite simple!" Ash replied, sounding a lot like the teenager that he was, making Misty smile again.. something that had become a novelty that day.. "Here, stand up and I'll show you how to use it." he instructed. Misty got out of the bed and walked over to were Ash was standing. "Now put your right hand on the handle and in the trigger slot, and then you place you place your left hand on-top of your right to keep your gun steady." Misty attempted to try what Ash told her but she kept fumbling the pistol. Ash chuckled to himself, "Here let me help you." Ash stood behind Misty, taking his right hand and placing it over-top of Misty's right hand, lifting it into place, "You put your right hand right here on the gun," Ash stated, moving her hand onto the pistol, "And then the left one here." Ash continued, taking her other hand and moving it into place. "Then you finally raise the weapon up to proper eye level," he instructed, moving his arms up along with hers to an equal level, "You just then look down the sights, making sure that the cross-hairs line up with the object, and then you fire away! It's quite simple once you get the hang of it" he finished, moving his arms away from Misty. She slightly adjusted her hands but she was able to firmly grasp the pistol pretty well.

"And I just pull the trigger to fire it off?" Misty asked him, still pointing the pistol at the opposite wall.

"Yup, but make sure you have your safeties off. It's a small switch on the side that when activated makes it impossible to shoot the pistol. And definitely make sure that you aim down the sights in order to achieve a more accurate shot. We're going to need to make sure that we keep as much ammo on us as possible" Ash replied. Misty lowered her pistol and began to examine it cautiously. As she continued to look at the pistol, her imagination continued flashing back to the events with the messenger... the images in the mirror.. she shivered thinking about it. Ash took notice to this.. being that it was the second time that she had shivered seeing the pistol.

"Misty.. is there something up?" Ash asked, making Misty shift her attention back to Ash, "This is the second time you flinched seeing the pistol... what's on your mind?" Misty looked away for a second, trying to collect her thoughts. She didn't know if Ash was going to believe what she was about to tell him.. but he had to know..

"Ash.. what if I told you that it would be safer to go to Saffron City.." she started, catching Ash's attention even more, giving him a puzzling look, "What if.. What if I told you that it will not be safe here past mid-day tomorrow.. that you and Brock will.." Misty paused, trying to pluck up courage to mention the image..

"We'll what?.." Ash tried to continue to conversation. Misty paused, her glance piercing towards the carpeted floor. Then, taking a deep breath, she looked at Ash, straight into his hazelnut-coloured eyes.

"That if we did not leave by tomorrow night, that you and Brock would become infected.. and that I w-would.." Misty found that she couldn't continue without developing tears in her eyes, feeling the image seen in the mirror screw up her sanity. "That I would have to shoot you two... to save myself.." Misty felt herself tearing up.

"Misty... where on Earth did you learn about this from!?" Ash questioned her, feeling both dazzled and confused as what she was saying. Misty hesitated, trying to remember all of the details, but continued on explaining.

"When you and Brock left to obtain the supplies, during my nap, I was approached by some sort of... spiritual or mythical figure.. it told me that he came with a message, telling me of what I've just told you.. It was like it knew the future ahead.. that what we were currently going to do is going to lead to our downfall..."

"Do you think what he said was true?" Ash asked.

"I.. I don't know..," Misty replied, "But I feel that it might be a sign for us! I mean, this spiritual thing did come to only me and no one else that I know of... and besides.." Misty drifted off, looking back at the bed cover.

"Besides what?"

"..To prove that he was telling the truth, he displayed a futuristic 'screenshot' of what would happen to us if we had stayed here in the hotel... I was standing with a pistol, just like the one you gave me, in one hand, and a blade in my other hand... and you were... You were..." Misty felt that she couldn't continue on without visualizing the image that she had seen.. trying to hold back her rising fears and tears.. "That you were lying on the floor.. covered in blood.. with a bullet hole through your head from my direction..." Misty felt a small tear roll from her eye, painfully imagining the scene in her mind. "The spirit explained that our defenses would be compromised, some how, and that you and Brock would become infected..." Misty didn't want to look right at Ash; it was too painful to look at his face and his frozen expression. Ash sat there with a grim and pale look upon his face, thinking through what Misty was describing to him... the breakthrough, the infection.. the bullet.. Ash shuttered thinking about it. He shifted his attention back onto Misty.

"How did the spirit know that Saffron would be safe?"

"He told me that after a set period of time a telekinetic barrier will form around the perimeter of the city, thriving off any infected who want to come into the city.. which explains why the infected went here instead of Saffron City. Once inside the barrier, we'll be safe and sound.. Our pokemon will probably be in the PCs, which we could easily withdraw at any point.."

"Don't you think we should share this with everyone then? I mean it would be very important for the survival for a ton of people in-"

"No! No.. we can't.. the spirit said that if too many people are exposed of this secret, then a mob of people will want to enter Saffron City, in which, out of shook and safety, the officials of that city will close their borders.. preventing any one from entering in the city.."

"Darn.." Ash replied, crossing his arms in a state of thought. He felt that the decision that they had on hand was quite contradictory; on the one hand they had a valuable source of information for safety that could save a ton of lives, but on the other hand, however, if too many people fled to Saffron City then no one would be saved from the infection... "What do you think we should do, Misty?" he asked, still thinking about what to do.

"I feel it would be important to share the information but only to those people who we feel that we can trust to keep hold of it.. I don't know who else we could tell though..."

"Are there anyone of our friends who are in the area?"

"Not to my knowledge. We're the only ones who are in the Kanto right now.."

"Hmm.." Ash continued to ponder, thinking over the options that they faced. He continued to think down every obstacle that they could reach with telling about the information, but however each path lead to the same ending of the city's barriers being closed off. It was an impossible choice that he had to make. "Even if we told just one other person about this, there would be no guarantee that they would hold the information to themselves... we would need to trust them completely and make sure that they won't spread the word around... gosh, Misty, I don't know what to do..."

"Neither do I" she admitted, looking outside and noticing the clouds in the sky. Misty moved towards the window, taking a look at the outside world. It was a beautiful and clear October afternoon, with a few clouds in the sky and the hint that there was a gentle breeze flowing through the tress. The setting would have made it the perfect scenario for a wonderful day.. a day that Misty would have spent completely on with Ash and Brock by her side. She took in every colour and every detail of the luscious-looking outside world. It was so beautiful.. but even sadder to know that soon it might all be nothing but clouds of ash and smoke.. Misty started to cry, still looking outside of the window. "Ash.."

"Yeah, Misty?" Ash replied, looking over to where Misty was standing. There was a pause of silence between the two, as the words lingered in the air. Misty turned to face Ash, tears rolling down the side of her face.

"Will there.. will there be a day where we won't have to worry about anything? Worry about how our lives are hanging in the balance of so many strange and unknown factors?... Do you think we will see another day like today? Where the weather is beautiful and absolutely perfect? To walk and talk and play about, without having to worry at all? Tell me... will we?" she sobbed, tears continuing to stream down her check. Ash stood in his place for a second, taking in her words.. seeing her cry in such a miserable state.. he couldn't help but start to tear up as well. He walked over to where she stood and stood right in front of her, keeping his eyes locked onto hers.

"I do hope so... because if there is such a day like day, where we are filled again with happiness in the future, I want to have it spent with you" he replied, making Misty blush like mad. Ash smiled and pulled Misty into a big hug, to which Misty swung her arms around him.. holding him tightly.. Misty started weeping out of control into his shoulder.

"O-Oh Ash! I d-don't w-want to die! I d-don't want you t-to die!" she sobbed, her head completely tucked into his shoulder. Ash could feel Misty take in rapid gulps of air, trying to compensate for her sobbing, as her back would inflate and deflate quickly. Ash placed his head on her shoulder, feeling the tears on his face starting to run down his check as well..

"I don't want anyone to d-die.. I d-don't want you t-to d-die.." Ash started equally weeping into her shoulder. He felt as if every bit of strength that he had to contain his emotions, every barrier that holding everything back, was being released in a tidal wave of pain.. Ash was scared of losing Misty.. he became scared of losing Brock.. everything was becoming a sudden reality in his mind. "But don't worry.. we're going to be okay, Misty. We just need to keep ourselves calm and s-stay smart through all of this" Ash spoke, pulling away from Misty but still keeping his hands on her shoulders. They looked at each other, tear-stained eyes and the remains of their cried tears on their checks, seeing the pain in the other person. Ash, through his weakened mentality, was still able to pull a smile on his face, trying to make Misty feel better through his grin. "We'll be okay, Misty, I promise that I will protect you" he spoke, making Misty smile through his loving words.

"Thank you, Ash, and I promise to stand by your side, to see through this whole thing through" she replied, feeling a slight blush fall upon her face. Ash couldn't help but keep smiling at her words; he could now tell that his relationship with Misty was starting to really take off to a level that he couldn't have imagined before. If it weren't for the current infection attacks, he honestly would have considered dating Misty... but then again, it was because of these attacks that were causing Ash and Misty to come together. Nevertheless, both Ash and Misty were happy that they were able to come together through this. Maybe something will come out of the attacks that will unite them together even further..

Ash glanced out of the window once more to look at the beautiful weather outside. As he glimpsed out the window, something in particular caught his eye. Ash moved towards the window to try and get a better look at what he might have seen. "What in the world is that?" he questioned, looking off into the distance. From what he could tell, it looked like some sort of disfigured being, looking as if it was running at a fast pace, its arms flailing about. Suddenly, from the hill that this figure was running from, a whole mass of people were now exposed in his eye sight.. a whole group of infected that were running towards the city..

***Thanks for reading! Hope you all enjoyed! Please leave a review with your feedback! Your reviews help me to improve the quality of the story and for my future writings! :)***


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: My apologizes for the late post, I have been really busy with work and online classes, along with a bit of a fallout of writing... but the streak is back! I'm working on the following chapter even as we speak! Even though this chapter is a bit shorter than some of the standard chapters in this story, but there will be more in chapter 6.**

Any ways, I hope you enjoy! Do please comment with any opinions if you feel it necessary. Thanks! :)

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"Oh shit, oh shit!" Ash yelled.

"What is it?" Misty questioned, looking outside of the window. She couldn't tell at first what Ash was looking at, but suddenly she was able to soon see the massive horde of infected running towards the city. Her eyes widened with a wave of shock coursing through her body; the invasion of the infection was beginning and they had to act. "Oh God, they are here!" she also yelled in panic. "Alright, stay calm, stay calm" she tried to coo herself, moving away from the window and towards their supplies. Suddenly her mind took an interesting turn.. but it would be a turn that would actually help Misty steel her mind..

"Brock! The infected are coming into the city!" Ash yelled to Brock, starting to walk fast into the other room. However he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder behind him. Ash stopped and turned around to see Misty's hand on his shoulder. "What is it Misty?"

"I think.. no, you need to tell Brock about earlier.. of the messenger that came to me during my sleep.. please, we have to keep our group together and we need to have a solid plan if we are going to make it" Misty stated, with a very serious yet vulnerable look on her face. Ash could tell that she wasn't kidding around.. something had finally clicked in her mind.

"Alright, but if I tell him you're going to have to be with me.. only so that you will be able to tell the full detail of the events with the messenger.. okay?" he replied, to which Misty nodded. Trying to keep herself calm she walked alongside Ash into the other room.

As they both pass through the suite-door, Ash and Misty could tell that Brock had done some serious renovation to the room. There wasn't any light coming from the nearby windows as all of the blinds were completely shut. The main bed was pushed up against the door and all of the tables where equally providing for the barrier. Brock was sitting in one of the chairs by the window-sill, looking outside towards the city. Although at first it wasn't obvious, Misty was able to discover that Brock had what looked to be a few weapons over on the only table-desk that wasn't against the door.

"Brock there is something that we have to tell you, before we consolidate our plan.." Ash started, looking slightly hesitant to tell him the strange news.

"I know I know, the infected are headed towards the city" Brock replied, looking out of one of the blinds. "Damn, they are really moving quickly now!"

"No, Brock, it's something else.. it's about our plan.." Ash stated, making Brock stop his 'monitoring-mode' and turn towards them.

"What do you mean?"

"When we were gone to get the supplies to hold out, Misty..." he stopped, seeing Misty put her hand in front of Ash.

"I was approached by some sort of messenger.. as though it looked like some sort of spiritual figured being. He had a message about the current plan that we had; the plan of which we basically hold out until this thing is over.. The messenger said that after mid-afternoon tomorrow our barriers will be breached by the infected, for some unexplained reason.. and to prove this, he showed me a 'snapshot' of what seemed to be you and Ash laying on the floor, infected... and dead.." Misty looked away for a second; she didn't want to mention how she was the one who shot them dead after they became infected.. Brock, though quite surprised at what he was hearing, surprisingly was staying pretty calm about it.

"What did the messenger say then about a safer plan?" he commented, trying to figure out any more information from this messenger.

"Well, that is where Ash and I are a bit conflicted about right now.. see the messenger said that mid-afternoon tomorrow, Saffron city will have developed a complete barrier around the city, preventing any of the infected from entering the city. On the one hand, we could use this information as an easy way to guarantee us safety, but on the other hand we could be able to save a ton of lives at the same time.."

"Only trouble is that if Saffron city sees that there is a massive group of people towards the city, there is without a doubt that they will just close the city borders and that no one will be able to enter into the city.."

"Well, I'll be honest with you, I think it's kinda too late to warn anyone about Saffron City.. I mean the infected have already arrived at the city, and if we force people to leave their safe houses, that would just be suicide for them..."

"Do you know if they are showing anything on the news?" Ash commented.

"Well I don't know if the stations would be up and running at this time... but we could try and take a look.." Brock replied. He got up from his post and walked over to the set, turning on the television. It showed static for about a second but soon flickered onto the local news station. The news-lady was on the screen with the red bulletin headed "Breaking News: Infection Breakout in Celadon City". Ash, Misty, and Brock listened closely to the television set.

"Reports of the infected coming into the city are starting to flood in. Most of these reports are being cited in the Northern area of the city, headed from Cerulean City. Residence are advised to stay indoors and to lock your doors. Stay away from all ground level windows and move to your storm shelters within your basement. Do not, I repeat, do not try to engage the infected outside your homes; stay inside! If you have any sort of protection within your home, use it! We will stay on for as long as we can, continuing to report infection sightings throughout the night-" Brock turned off the television as still image of the report stayed on screen for a second. He sat back down at his post and looked to Ash and Misty. Both of them hadn't move and they were looking at the screen, but in truth though they were trying to take in everything that they had heard.

"Well, I guess that is that," Brock stated quite bluntly, "The only thing we can do now is just wait it out.. though I really hate to sit and do nothing.."

"We aren't just going to sit here and do nothing!" Misty replied back, standing up and walking to the other room. Ash also stood up as well.

"Misty! Where are you going?"

"We have to at least do something about it! I'm headed to the main lobby, and if you want to join up you can."

"Wait Misty!" Ash called out, but before he knew it Misty had stormed out of the room. He stood at the doorway with a puzzled look on his face. "What's gotten into Misty suddenly?" he asked Brock, turning back into the darkened room.

"I don't know.. its got me puzzled as well.. I guess something in her head must have clicked into place when she saw that massive horde of infected running towards the city. I mean she does have a point; there's no point just sitting here and doing nothing. We could at least help out in providing defense for those who aren't able to defend themselves.."

"Yeah, that is a good point... Ah what the hell" Ash replied, nodding his head through his own mental processes. He walked into the other room and pulled out the other duffle bag laying on the floor, as he was thinking about what was been happening in these last few hours. From the time that his closest group of friends arrived in the city and after watching a movie, they have been dealing with some of the craziest stuff that none of them could not have been predicted: running from their lives from a rioting crowd, Ash and Misty sharing a close bonding moment that cemented their current relationship state, learning about a rapid infection breakout and having to buying weapons to prepare and defend their lives, and Misty having approached by some strange messenger... it seemed like a memory but it was all just happening so fast... But in the end he was able to accept that this was how it was going to be for these next few days... or weeks, maybe even years..

Ash placed the bag on the bed and zipped it open, revealing a M16 with a few extra rounds of ammunition laying around the rifle. He grabbed the rifle from the bag, shouldering the weapon, and grabbed some of the ammunition in the duffle bag, shoving them into his coat pocket. "Brock! I'm going to head to the lobby to hold out our position! Are you going to join us?"

"No, I think I will stay here.." he replied. Ash turned back around and walked into the room, rifle shouldered.

"Why do you want to-" started Ash, but then suddenly he noticed that Brock was unzipping a large duffle bag from the bedside. Brock reached and pulled out a sniper rifle from the duffle bag. He positioned the rifle next to a open section of the nearest window, setting out the legs of the rifle in place on a table that was pushed towards the window. "Brock, what is that?"

"This, Ash, is a Remington 700 sniper rifle; bolt action with a ton of ammunition" Brock explained, waving his hand over to the bag, which Ash could tell was filled with boxes upon boxes of sniper rounds. Brock also pulled from the bag a hand revolver, placing it on the table next to the rifle. "I'll make sure that our home base is safe and sound from the infected. We'll keep in contact if something might happen downstairs in the lobby. Don't be afraid to fall back to our room; it's best for us to think smart and not lose our heads trying to be the hero."

"Right.. that does make sense. I'll come in contact if we decided to head upstairs, alright?"

"Sounds like a plan" Brock replied. Ash walked through the connecting door and got his shoes on by the door. "And Ash?" Brock spoke before he was out of sight. Ash leaned back into the doorway.

"Yeah?"

"Good luck down there" Brock replied, giving a reassuring smile. Ash smiled back from the support of his closest friend.

"Thanks Brock. Good hunting" Ash spoke as he left the bedroom into the hallway, locking the door behind him. Brock couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

"Oh I will" he said to himself, as he placed his sniper rifle facing outside the window. Slightly opening the window and adjusting the blinds slightly, he adjusted the Remington as such and looked down the scope of the sniper rifle, scanning and getting view of the infected causing chaos down below in Cerulean City.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone! I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful reviews from the last chapter! I really do appreciate the comments, and I hope to continue to keep you all entertained :) As always, I hope you enjoy the chapter and feel free to leave a comment on yours thoughts about the chapter, and I'll continue to post more chapters as I continue writing. Enjoy!  
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Ash ran down the hallway that was leading to the main lobby, his rifle bouncing off of his shoulder with each step. As he continued to run he was continuing to think about what had come over Misty. It didn't make sense to him in his mind. One night she was basically shivering in Ash's arm, stuck in the sense of a plaguing reality, and then the next day, out of no where, she was proclaiming about how they shouldn't be held up in the room and how they should be fighting to protect other civilians.. What on Earth snapped that caused her to change this drastically? It didn't honestly bother Ash that much, for it reminded him of the Misty that he truly knew: the tomboy girl with a fire-filled passion that couldn't be extinguished. In fact, more than anything, it actually made him feel more confident in their chances of survival with her fighting on her own accord now. He had only found the sudden transition so unexpected...

As he made his way down the hallway Ash actually heard a couple of gunshots from the main entrance. From the sound of it he could tell that there multiple people fighting off the infected. Ash swung his rifle from his shoulder into a holding position, making sure that the safety was turned off. Still running, he grabbed a clip from his jacket pocket and loaded it into his rifle. Ash approached the top of the stairs overlooking the main lobby and surveyed the scene.

Below him, in the main lobby, stood about four other survivors, firing their weapons through the main entrance, where the infected were storming through, bit by bit. One of the survivors was Misty, who had this steeled-focused look upon her face, firing her Desert Eagle somewhat accurately at the infected. The others were unfamiliar to Ash. There was a guy who looked like a hotel worker, as he had his red and purple coat-and-pants uniform with white gloves, firing a Five-Seven pistol. The other two members looked to be of the same group, as they both wore a silver and navy blue headband around their upper arm. The first one was a very muscular guy, with short brown hair and wearing a black leather jacket with matching jeans, holding a MK46 light machine gun in his hands. His friend was a tall girl who had long maroon hair, wearing an opened, matching maroon, long jacket with various silver designs all over, and duel-wielding two uzis. From what Ash could see, they were doing a really good job with keeping the infected out of the hotel, as none of the infected had not passed the front desks.

Ash made his way down the staircase and stood next Misty, whipping up his rifle so that he could look down the sights of the rifle. "Hey Misty, I've come to help you out!" he spoke, continuing to look forward, with a grin on his face. Misty glanced over for a second, catching how heroic Ash had looked at the moment: spirits, energy, and head held high. She smiled and focused back at the door.

"Thank you, Ash, it is very much appreciated!"

"Hey! Who's this guy?" the man with the light machine gun spoke, still looking at the door and firing at the infected running inside.

"This is my closest friend Ash" Misty spoke, firing three shots at an infected member, who slammed to the floor from the powerful bullets ripping through its torso.

"Nice to meet you Ash! I'm Lawrence and this is Isabella" he spoke, nodding his head to the girl with the long maroon jacket. She continued looking at the infected and blasting a couple of bursts towards the horde, not really noticing Ash's presence. Ash was a bit taken back by the fact that she didn't at least acknowledge him. Lawrence noticed his expression. "Don't take it too hard, Isabella is a bit of a hard-ass under pressure and especially when focused, but honestly she's a very nice person" he told Ash.

"Damn right I'm a hard-ass under pressure!" Isabella replied, firing off a few more rounds at another group that was running towards them. Ash shook off Isabella's presence and focused back at the main entrance, firing a few burst-fires at the group of infected.

Together all five of them were fighting quite well against the infected and were able to hold their ground. Both Ash and Misty thought that they could all be able to fight them off successfully, but however just as they started to think it was over more and more infected showed up at the door. It had seemed like it was just an endless wave of infected; the numbers were not even comparing to how many estimated.

"Damn it all! They are still coming!" Isabella yelled out in frustration.

"I never realized this many infected were headed to the city! It almost feels as if every infected we kill, there appears two more" Misty spoke.

"Yeah, and not only that but we're starting to run out of ammo" Lawrence replied, looking at the ammo box that laid beside him. "We're not going to be able to hold this spot for very long. We're going to have to move out!"

"And where in the hell are we suppose to go? Going outside is just simply stupid and we'll be trapped if we continue to hold our position!" Isabella yelled in reply, keeping her focus on the doors and the infected that would run through. Ash and Misty turned to face each other, thinking about their room. Even though it's just a stronghold, in they couldn't really fight too well in, it was better than nothing. Misty nodded her head in agreement. Ash turned his head to face Lawrence.

"We've got a room on the second floor that's acting like a stronghold. I know it's not much but I guess it's something" Ash spoke.

"Hmm, well it's not really our type to go and hide from the infected, since we are from the C.D.F. after all. But I guess we really don't have much choice at the moment" Lawrence replied, looking back at Ash.

"Wait, what's the C.D.F.?" Misty asked.

"It'll have to wait, we need to move!" Isabella shouted in reply, nodding towards the door. Another horde of the infected was running towards the entrance, and considering that they were in need to conserve ammo they really couldn't keep holding out. "We need to move! Now!"

"Follow us! The room is just upstairs!" Misty replied, as she and Ash started running up the stairs. The hotel clerk and Isabella followed them up the stairs, while Lawrence was providing covering fire, ripping through a few of the infected before making a dash up the stairs. The group then ran down the hallway, as Ash flipped out his cellphone, quick-dialing Brock. After a few beeps the phone connected.

"Hello?"

"Brock! It's Ash! Listen, we're headed to the room with a few survivors! I don't have time to explain but we have a horde that going to be in the lobby very soon! I need you to get ready to let us in and lock down our defenses!"

"Okey-dokey! Can do!" Brock replied, disconnecting the call. Ash placed the phone back in his jacket pocket and continued running down the hall.

"Once we get inside, we'll lock down our room, nice and secure! We're almost there!"

"You sure you guys will be able to be secure against these infected!?" Isabella shouted back.

"Pretty sure! We thought this through before they invaded the city!"

"Hurry up! The infected are catching up!" Lawrence shouted from the rear. He turned around and blasted a few rounds at the running infected, watching the bullets rip through their torsos and seeing them stumble onto the hallway floor. These burst shots were providing to being very effective against the infected, as they seemed to fall after about four or five shots to the chest. But those who were shot down didn't slow the rest of them, as they simply jumped over the fallen infected, continuing to storm towards the group. "Shit! Well then, take this!" Lawrence shouted, pulling what looked like a strange looking container from one of his thigh pockets. He pulled a string from the container and rolled it towards the infected, as they continued to storm down the hall.

"Hey! Come on!" Isabella shouted at him. As she shouted this, the container started to spray what looked to be a dark purple gas, which left a smokescreen in front of the infected, temporarily stopping their progress. Lawrence smiled at this small success and turned around, starting to run down the hall to join the rest of the group.

They arrived at the door, to which they found was wide open. Ash stood outside the door, as Misty, the doorman, Isabella, and then Lawrence entered the room. He made sure that the infected had not seem them enter the room, to which he noticed that the smokescreen was starting to fade. Quickly, he got inside and closed the door, securing each of the locks established on the door. Ash stepped away from the door, as he started to hear the yelling by the infected, as they stormed down the hallway. Brock entered into the main room where everyone was at.

"Who are these people?" he spoke, to which basically everyone 'shushed' him, leaving Brock to just simply shrug his shoulders, back away, and head back to his post. Meanwhile the yells were becoming louder and they were starting to tear up the hallways, as if it was a bloody riot going on.

Everyone in the room remained dead quiet, trying not to alert any of the infected towards their location. Even though they only had basic instincts, that still doesn't mean that they are completely stupid. They will react to any noise that they hear, usually resulting to the horde moving towards that source. The silence of the moment filled the entire room enough that one could be able to hear a pin drop on the floor. No one made a single ounce of movement..

Ash looked over at Misty, who looked like she was trying to catch her breath, but trying not to breathe too loud. She looked over at him and Ash could tell from her facial expression that she was frightened about them being discovered. Ash replied with a smile that said 'we'll be okay, trust me', making Misty feel a bit better, but she looked back at the door as the screams got louder and louder, the infected getting closer to where they were at. Ash got up slowly and walked to the door, his rifle at the ready in case any of the infected started banging up against the door. He took a glance through the peep-hole. The infected were clearly outside the room, yelling and making commotion, but they weren't making any motion that they had found the group. _"Good, the smokescreen worked!"_ Ash thought to himself, _"But we need to get them away from the door.. but how?"_

Right as Ash thought of this, a massive explosion from outside rocked the room, catching everyone off by surprise. Ash walked over to the window to take a peek outside at the source of the explosion. The sight of what he saw caught him in absolute awe.


End file.
